Multicolor weft replenishing mechanism



May 3, 1932- w. M. WATTIE 1,856,178

MULTICOLOR WEFT REPLENISHING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 10, 1931 Patented May 3, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM: M. "WATTIE, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO CROMP'ION 86 KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS MULTICOLOR WEFT REPLENISHING MECHANISM Application filed January 10, 1931.

This invention relates to improvements in multi-color weft replenishin mechanisms and it is the general object of the invention to provide means whereby the loom may be operated at high rates of speed.

Multicolor automatic looms operate so that a bobbin may move from any one of a plu-.

rality of stacks of reserve bobbins toward acommon transfer position under the transferrer arm. The latter extends through a plate which, as heretofore constructed, has had a slot open on the under side thereof. TVith such a construction the warping due to uneven cooling in the casting process twists the two surfaces of the plate which engage the butts of the bobbins on opposite sides of the slots out of alignment, thereby interfering with the free movement of the bobbin toward transfer position. It is an important object of my present invention to bridge over the bobbin of the slot so that there will be a continuous bobbin butt engaging surface from one side of the slot to the other, this bridging portion is preferably sufficient- 1y high to engage all portions of the butt of the bobbin. Such a construction also strengthens the lower part of the magazine plate adj acent the transfer-rel to lessen breakage. TV hen a loom is run at high speeds there is little time for the bobbin to adjust itself and come to rest in the proper position, but with the structure set forth there is assurance that the bobbin will not need much time to assume the correct position.

It is another object of my present invention to provide means for quickly lowering the latch of the transferrer mechanism should it be necessary to revoke transfer due to an improperly positioned shuttle. The transferrer arm usually has pivoted thereto a holder in which is adjustably mounted a lay ongaging latch, and the latter is so mounted that it can occupy a plurality of positions with respect to the holder for the purpose of varying the amount of movement of the transferrer arm. vVhen looms are running at a high rate of speed it occasionally happens that the latch cannot be depressed quickly enough to miss the hunter on the lay when the transfer is to be revoked, and it is a fur- Serial No. 507,881.

which will aid gravity in lowering the latch,

means preferably having operative relation with the holder to the end that adjustments of the latch with respect to its holder will not change the effect of the resilient device to lower the latch.

it is a further object of my invention to make the transferrer arm in two parts for the purpose of facilitating manufacture and increasing the bearing area, this improved construction insuring more accuracy in the downward movement of the transferrer arm during the act of bobbin changing.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the acompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. 1 is side elevation taken from the interior of a loom and showing my invention applied to a multicolor weft replenishing mechanism,

Fig. 2 is a detailed horizontal section on line 22 of Fig. 1, certain parts being omitted,

Fig. 3 is a front elevation taken in the direction of arrow 3, Fig. 1, and showing the means for mounting the depressing spring for the latch holder,

Fig. at is a detailed vertical section on line a d of Fig. 1, the transferrer arm being shown in lowered position, and

Fig. 5 is a detailed vertical section on line 5--5 of Fig. 1.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, I have shown a loom frame 10 on which is mounted a magazine designated generally at M and having in this instance four vertical bobbin controlling slides 11. Each slide is operativoly related at its lower end to a so-called cradle 12 which is normally empty and supports a stack of bobbins. There will be a stack for each slide and for each color being woven. Each vertical slide has upper and lower lugs 13 and 1 1, respectively, which are so positioned as to coact with fingers 15 carried as part of a color slide 16. The latter is mounted for reciprocating movement in a horizontal direction on the magazine end and is moved by a cord 17 against the action of a tension spring 18, by some control in time with the active shuttle, such, for instance, as the box motion. A vertically reciprocating rod 19 has a rod head 20 through which extends a rod 21 forming part of the color slide. By means of a reciprocating block 22 acting through a lever 23 the rod 19 is moved downwardly when an empty shuttle is under the magazine to lift the slide 11 corresponding to said empty shuttle, and on a subsequent pick when the empty shuttle is about to return to the magazine side of the loom the rod 19 will be given an upward movement to depress the previously raised slide 11. In this way a bobbin corresponding to the exhausted weft is released and falls downwardly to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, where it is supported by a pair of yielding bobbin holders 24 and 25, located respectively in front of and behind the normal transfer position. A bobbin from the front stacks. or those corresponding to the slides shown at the right in Fig. 1, will slide along the bobbin support 24, whereas a bobbin originating from either of the stacks corresponding to the slides at the left of Fig. 1 will move down the guiding surface of support or holder In either instance a bobbin butt moves along one support toward the other and is positioned by engagement with both the supports. i

The magazine includes in its construction a plate 30 on which are slidably mounted the previously described elements 11 and this plate has extending therethrough an opening or hole 31 which extends through the plate. The bottom of this opening is closed by a bridge 32 shown herein as an integral part of the plate 30. The bridge extends between the supports 24 and 25 and is preferably sufficiently high to present a guiding surface to all parts of the end of the bobbin butt as the latter moves toward transfer position along either of the supports 24 or 25. In this way the advancing bobbin butt is not permitted to engage an edge of the opening which might happen to be out of alignment with the surface of the plate along which the bobbin butt is moving. The advantage of this construction is that the bobbin comes to rest more.

quickly and with less likelihood of being interrupted in its movements.

The transferrer mechanism 40 is made preferably of two parts,.the one shown at 41 having a hub 42 pivoted on a stud 43 carried by the magazine frame. The part 41 has a heel 44 which is extended through the opening 31 and is normally positioned above the bobbin when the latter is in transfer position. This relation is set forth clearly in Fig. 4, where it will be seen that the transferrer arm has a part extending through the opening and is so proportioned that when the transferrer is depressed it will clear the top of the bridge 32.

The other part of the transferrer arm 45 has a hub 46 which is pivotally mounted on the other end of the stud 43, the latter having its intermediate portion held by a fixed hub 47 cast preferably as part of the plate 30. The member 45 is bifurcated or forked to have two fingers 48 and 49 between which extends a third finger 50 formed on part 41. A bolt 51 extending through these fingers secures the two parts together to cause them to move in unison around the stud 43 as an axis.

The hub 46 has depending therefrom spaced legs 52 to support a pin 53. There is pivotally mounted to the latter a latch holder 54 which supports a latch v55 notched as at 56 to receive a hunter 57 carried by the lay L. An adjusting screw 58 threaded into the holder engages the forward end of the latch to determine the longitudinal position thereof relatively to the holder, and a bolt 59 extending transversely through the holder and latch fastens these two members together, the latch extending into a groove of the holder as indicated in Fig. 1. The holder has a forwardly extending finger 60 and the hub 46 has another finger 61 corresponding to finger 60, and there is interposed between these lingers a tension spring 62 the effect of which is to rock the holder in a counter-clockwise direction around pn 53 as viewed in Fig. 1.

.l/Vhen a bobbin is in the transfer position indicatedin dotted lines in Fig. 1 and held by the supports 24 and 25, a rod will be raised to elevate the latch 55 so that the notch 56 thereof will lie in the path of the advancing bunter' 57. If the shuttle S is properly pos tioned the transferrer arm will be rocked about the stud 43 and the heel 44'will push the full bobbin into the shuttle. If, on the contrary, the shuttle be improperly positioned, a shuttle feeler not shown herein but well understood will operate to lower the rod 70, thereupon permitting the spring 62 to rock the latch as previously described and lower the same to a point where it will be out of the path of movement of the hunter 57 to prevent transfer. The fact that the spring 62 acts 011 the latch holder makes it possible to adjust the latch with respect to its holder without disturbing the setting or interfering with the action of spring 62.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a magazine plate 30 having a bridge 32 so positioned and proportioned as to engage the butt of the bobbin moving along either support toward transfer position and that said bridgeinsures a smooth guiding surface'to direct the-bobbin toward transfer fit) position. This bridge incidentally strengthens the lower part of the magazine plate and prevents engagement of a bobbin rolling toward transfer position with any projecting edge which might otherwise interfere with its correct movement. It will further be seen that means is provided to assist gravity in depressing the latch in the event that transfer revocation is necessary, said means preferably including a device operatively related to the latch holder and tending to rock the same so as to depress the latch at the time of a, revocation. This device also acts independently of the variously adjusted positions which the latch may assume with respect to its holder. Also, it will be seen that the transferrer arm has been made in two parts having hubs which lie on opposite sides of the support for stud 43, and that said part may be clamped together to form a unitary structure movable about the axis of the stud 43.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In a weft replenishing mechanism having a pair of supports to hold a reserve bobbin in transfer position, a plate adjacent the supports having an opening therein extending above said supports, a transferrer arm extending through the opening and having aportion disposed normally above the supports, and said plate having a continuous guide surface for a bobbin extending from one of said supports to the other and located under the transferrer arm and sufficiently high to prevent the bobbin butt from engaging the periphery of the opening as the bobbin moves along either support toward the other.

2. In a weft replenishing mechanism having a pair of spaced bobbin supports along either of which a reserve bobbin may move toward the other when approaching transfer position, a transferrer arm normally above the supports and positioned to engage a bobbin on the latter, and a plate adjacent the supports and having an opening therein through which the transferrer arm extends, the plate extending under the opening to provide a guide surface along which a bobbin may move from one support to the other, the height of the surface above the supports being greater than the diameter of the butt of the bobbin.

In a multicolor weft replenishing mechanism operating with a transferrer arm and having reserve bobbins located in front of and also behind the transferrer arm, front and back bobbin supports spaced from each other and located under the transferrer arm to hold a bobbin in transfer position, a reserve bobbin being movable from a position either in front of or behind the transferrer arm and down either support toward the other to transfer position, a plate to engage the bobbins and limit endwise movement thereof and having an opening therein through which the transferrer arm extends, and a continuous guide surface on the plate under the transferrer arm extending from one support to the other to guide and extending above a bobbin when the latter is travelling along either support toward transfer position.

4. In a multicolor weft replenishing mechanism operating with a transferrer arm and having reserve bobbins located in front of and also behind the transferrer arm, front and back bobbin supports spaced from each other and located under the transferrer arm to hold a bobbin in transfer position, a reserve bobbin being movable from a position either in front of or behind the transferrer arm and down either support toward the other to transfer position, a plate to engage the bobbins and limit endwise movement thereof and having an opening therein through which the transferrer arm extends, and a continuous guide surface on the plate under the transferrer arm extending from one support to the other to guide a bobbin travelling along either support toward transfer position, said guide surface being of sufficient height to have engagement with the upper part of the bobbin at all times as the latter moves along a bobbin support.

5. In a weft replenishing mechanism having a transferrer arm and operating with bobbins to move from a position either in front of or behind the arm toward transfer position, a pair of spaced bobbin supports under the transferrer to hold the bobbin in transfer position, the bobbin being movable along either support toward the other, and a bobbin guiding plate through which the transferrer arm extends, said plate having a part integral therewith under the transferrer arm and presenting a continuous bobbin guiding surface extending from one support across to the other, the lowest part of the opening fol the transferrer arm lying above the path of a bobbin moving along either support toward the other support.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

WVILLIAM M. WATTIE. 

